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MEMORIAL 

OF THE 

Church in Brattle Square. 

1871^ 



rig^h) 



iHemovtal of tije €\nm\) tu 9Svattle B>quare. 



DISCOURSE 

PREACHED IN THE CHURCH IN BRATTLE SQUARE, 

ON THE 

Last Sunday of its use for Public Worship, 
July 30, 1S71. 



SAMUEL KcLOTHROP, D.D., 

PASTOR OF THE SOCIETY. 



WITH AN APPENDJ^l, - . - . . ^ 

AND 

AN ACCOUNT OF LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE 
NEW CHURCH. 



BOSTON: 
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 

1871. 



F73 



IN EXCHANCa 



ii^1 



Boston, Aiu 



Rev. Dr. Lothrop. 



Dear Sir, — The Standing Committee of the Church and Society 
in Brattle Square respectfully ask of you a copy of your able and 
eloquent Sermon, preached on the occasion of holding religious services 
for the last time in Brattle Square. 

The Committee propose to have the Sermon printed in pamphlet 
form, and to place a copy with the archives of the church. 

With the highest considerations of respect and esteem, we remain 
your friends and servants, 

Franklin Haven, Abram French, 

John Gardner, Chas. Lyman, 

J. P. Healy, Christopher T. Thayer, 

Benj. p. Cheney, T. Quincy Browne, 

Eben'r Dale, O. W. Peabody, and 

Geo. W. Palmer, J. T. Bradlee. 

Lewis B. Bailey, Clerk. 



Boston, Sept. 20, 1871. 

To THE Standing Committee of the Church and Society 
worshipping in Brattle SquARE. 

Gentlemen, — Your letter of Aug. 3 received immediate attention 
after my return from my vacation. I am gratified to find that I met an 
occasion oFso much interest to all of us in a manner satisfactory to my 
parishioners, and friends. From my own notes, and the very full and 
accurate reports in the newspapers, I have prepared a copy of my 
Sermon for publication, which I herewith submit to your disposal. 

With the highest regard, and many pleasant and grateful recollec- 
tions, I am, gentlemen, very sincerely your friend and pastor, 

S. K. LOTHROP. 



DISCOURSE. 



" "PNLARGE the place of thy tent, and let them 
-"-^ stretch forth the curtains of thine habita- 
tions, . . . and great shall be the peace of thy chil- 
dren." Thus saith the prophet Isaiah, in this 54th 
chapter. " Thou shalt worship the Father in spirit 
and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship 
him." Thus spake the blessed Master, in conver- 
sation with the woman of Samaria, recorded in the 
4th chapter of St. John's Gospel. Both these scrip- 
tures are appropriate mottoes for our thoughts this 
day, which, though it looks to the future, belongs 
largely to the past. We meet for the last time on 
this spot, which, for more than one hundred and 
seventy years, has been consecrated to the worship 
of Almighty God. We come to bid farewell for 
ever to this grand and noble old church, which has 
stood, for nearly a century, a monument testifying 
to the faith and piety of our Fathers; and which. 



to some of us, from our earliest childhood, and to 
all of us for long, long years, has been the religious 
home of our souls, full of all tender and sacred 
associations. Naturally, our thoughts revert to the 
past ; and to gather up the lessons of that past, as 
they are presented in the history of this church, 
in the spirit, purpose, and principles in which it 
originated, and to which it has ever faithfully ad- 
hered, — this becomes at once a grateful pleasure, 
and a sacred duty. 

Any reference to the times, any study of the cir- 
cumstances under which this church originated, 
brings up to our thoughts the emphatic declaration 
of the Master : " Thou shalt worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth," — a declaration that does not 
forbid nor denounce nor dispense with forms, but 
which, while it permits a large liberty in relation to 
them, does require that they be simple and appro- 
priate; that faith accept them; that the heart vitalize 
them; and that thus they become a sincere expres- 
sion of thought and feeling, and help to quicken, 
enlarge, and invigorate the thought, the feeling, 
the faith and piety which they are designed to 
express. 

Always in the church, as in all civil and social 
life, there have been exhibited two opposing ten- 
dencies, — the one tendency favoring freedom and 
simplicity in the forms and administration of relig- 



ion; the other favoring authority, and more or less 
of imposing ceremony and ritualistic display. The 
latter tendency finds its culmination in the Roman 
Catholic Church, and the former one of its strong- 
est manifestations in that English Puritanism, which, 
disheartened by persecution and ill success at home, 
came to New England in the persons of some of 
its noblest and most devoted disciples, that here it 
might have freedom, and establish a church without 
a bishop, and a State without a king; or, rather, that 
it might establish a church that should be the State, 
and a State that should be the church. This was 
the great mistake of early New-England Puritan- 
ism, — the point wherein it limited or violated free- 
dom, if not simplicity. Though in many respects 
grand and glorious, Puritanism was an extreme, 
overlooking, in the culture and administration of re- 
ligion, some useful and important elements of hu- 
man nature which ought never to be disregarded; 
and, in other respects, adopting various peculiarities, 
which had little or nothing to recommend them, 
save that they were the very opposite of prelative 
usages, to which it was bound by all means not to 
conform. Puritanism would not use the Lord's 
Prayer, in public or private, because the " Book of 
Common Pra3'er " required its repetition several 
times in some, and once in all its services. Puri- 
tanism would not read the Scriptures in public wor- 



ship, because the " Book of Common Prayer " 
required a monthly repetition of the Psalms, and a 
full and systematic reading of large portions of 
the Bible, in the course of the year. And, for the 
same reason, because the "^ Book of Common 
Prayer" provided for various chants and singings, 
Puritanism w^ould sing but once, in any public ser- 
vice. Puritanism neglected altogether the aesthetic 
element in human nature; and for religious expres- 
sion, for the quickening of the religious sensibili- 
ties, it scorned all use of that sense of the beautiful, 
the grand, and imposing, to which God constantly 
appeals, in the solemn magnificence of the uni- 
verse. A stern, cold, and uninviting simplicity 
of form and outward service, resting upon nothing, 
appealing to nothing but the spirit of faith and 
piety, and appealing to these through logic and 
argument, rather than the tender and S3'mpathetic 
elements of our nature, — this was the distinctive, 
characteristic feature of Puritanism in New Eng- 
land. 

But its great mistake was in undertaking to com- 
bine the church and State, and confine citizenship, 
with all its rights and prerogatives, to church mem- 
bers. Such an exclusive and arbitrary rule could 
not last long. It could only prevail during the 
lives of the original emigrants, who were all church 
members, and were moved to voluntarv exile for 



conscience's sake; and as soon as that generation 
passed, as early as 1662, this disability was removed, 
and every freeholder became a citizen, wnth a vote 
and a voice in all public affairs. But, in ecclesias- 
tical matters, in the management of religious socie- 
ties and parishes, the church — technically speaking, 
— the communicants still struggled, first for abso- 
lute and exclusive control, and then for the right to 
take the initiatory steps, and direct the movements 
of the parish. 

Just at this point, we find the germ of this old 
Brattle-Square Church and Society. It did not origi- 
nate in any quarrel, nor in any separation from any 
other church in the tov^n. It did not originate in 
any dispute or controversy upon points of theologi- 
cal doctrine. Its source was simply a determined 
purpose, on the part of its founders, to establish a 
new religious society, in which the Gospel and its 
ordinances should be administered upon a more 
liberal and generous plan than then prevailed, im- 
posing exactions upon none, and withholding rights 
from none. The enterprise met with opposition of 
such force and character, that " the undertakers," 
as they were called, just before their first church 
was dedicated, in November, 1699, put forth a docu- 
ment styled " A Manifesto," in order, as they say, 
" to prevent misapprehensions and jealousies, and 
to set forth their designs and aims, and the princi- 



lO 

pies to which, by the grace of God, they meant to 
adhere." This manifesto contained sixteen articles. 
The first one is as follows: ^* We approve and sub- 
scribe to the confession of faith put forth by the 
Assembly of Divines at Westminster." This dec- 
laration, of course, shows that upon points of theo- 
logical doctrine the founders of this church did not 
assume to differ from the mass of Congregational 
churches of that time. The points upon which 
they diftcred, and thereby gave offence, related to 
custom and usage in the administration of religion. 
They were four in number. The first, according 
to the published manifesto, was, " Reading of the 
Scriptures in public worship," — a custom largely 
neglected then among the Puritan Congregationalists 
in England, and, I believe, absolutely abandoned in 
this country. " We design only the true and pure 
Worship of God, according as it appears to us from 
the Holy Scriptures. Therefore, we deem it meet, 
suitable, and convenient that a portion of the Bible 
be read always in public worship, at the discretion 
of the minister." Here was something that savored 
of a return to prelatic usage; and as it was under- 
stood (though not stated in the manifesto) that in 
the new church the Lord's Prayer was to be re- 
peated once b}' the minister in the public service 
every Sunday (a custom which traditionary usage 
has handed down to the present tim.e), this innova- 



II 

tion of reading the Scriptures at public worship was 
especially offensive to the conservative Puritanism 
of that day. 

The second point related to the proper subjects 
of baptism, — who were entitled to have it admin- 
istered to their children? The Independent Con- 
o-reo-ational churches of Eno-land administered 
baptism only to infants whose parents were church 
members; but the free air of the wilderness very 
soon had its effect upon the New-England churches, 
leading them to abandon many of the customs and 
usages which they had brought from the Father- 
land; and, as early as 1637, letters of inquiry, 
remonstrance, and entreaty were received from 
England, cautioning the brethren, and urging adher- 
ence to the old paths. For more than half a century 
after the settlement of New England, the question 
whether the children of non-church members 
should be baptized was a subject of controversy, 
waxing and waning, reviving and subsiding. Some 
churches satisfied themselves with a half-way cove- 
nant, as it was called, by acknowledging which 
parents could have their children baptized without 
being or becoming church members themselves. 
But though this was approved by the synod of 
1662, the popular side was the old rule; the major- 
ity stood by that. But the course taken by the 
undertakers of the new church, in Brattle Square, 



12 

was especially offensive. They did not even estab- 
lish a " half-way covenant," but threw the whole 
responsibility upon the parents presenting a child, 
and upon the minister, who was left to receive such 
acknowledgments as were satisfactory to himself 
" This being a ministerial office, we believe it to be 
sufficient that the pastor should be satisfied; we 
leave it to his wisdom and prudence." 

So in regard to the third point, — admission to 
the church. Here, they threw the responsibility 
entirely upon the candidate seeking admission, 
and the pastor of the church. "All persons," 
says the manifesto, " seeking admission should be 
persons of visible sanctity." " Whoever would 
be received should be accountable to the pastor, 
whose duty it is to make himself acquainted with 
their knowledge and spiritual state. Therefore, 
we cannot enjoin, we dare not enjoin upon any 
a public relation of experience. If any person 
think himself bound in conscience to make such 
relation, let him do it; but we deem it sufficient 
if the pastor, by a seasonable announcement of 
the name of the candidate, indicates that he is 
satisfied." Here was a very important step. This 
public relation of experience, before one could be 
received into the church, was a grievous wrong and 
oppression, full of evil, and in every way one would 
think injurious in its influence. It could not but 



13 



encourage, in some, vanity and self-conceit; it 
could not but lead others unconsciously into hypo- 
critical, false, or exaggerated statements as to their 
religious experience; and it necessarily deterred 
many timid persons from the observance of an 
ordinance from which they might have derived 
great comfort and strength, and which should have 
no barriers thrown around it, except what the Mas- 
ter reared when he said, " Do this, in remembrance 
of me." Our Fathers did good service, noble ser- 
vice to the cause of religious liberty and sincerity, 
by discountenancing, as they did, the public rela- 
tion of experience. They did not feel themselves 
at liberty to go further. Having no right to enjoin, 
so they had no right to forbid. " If any person 
think himself bound, in conscience, to make such 
relation, let him do it." Thus putting it upon the 
glorious platform of personal, religious liberty. 

The fourth and last point announced in the mani- 
festo, as a principle to which the undertakers of this 
church designed to adhere, was perhaps the most 
important in its practical working, and gave most 
offence to the churches, technically so called; be- 
cause it took away the prestige that surrounded 
them, and the authority which they had claimed, 
exercised, and were still struggling to keep in their 
own hands. The manifesto says that " persons of 
the greatest piety, and gravity, and wisdom, and 



authority, and other accomplishments should, of 
course, have leading influence and control in the 
management of our parish affairs; but we cannot 
confine the right of voting to the church members 
alone. We hold and maintain that all who contrib- 
ute to its maintenance should have a vote and voice 
in election." This, I believe (and I think I have 
the reliable authority of the late Rev. Dr. Lamson 
of Dedham, for the statement), was the first instance 
among the Puritan Congregational churches of 
New England, in which it was distinctly announced 
and avowed as a principle to be adhered to and 
acted upon, that the church — technically speaking 
— the body of communicants had no rights or powers 
above those of the congregation. Previously in 
three instances, one in Salem, one in Dedham, and 
one in Charlestown — the first in 1672, the second 
in 1685, and the third in 1697 — by a mutual agree- 
ment and provision beforehand, the church and 
congregation had met together in one body, and 
without a separate or distinct vote elected their 
pastor. But this was not the common usage, nor 
was it the principle avowed and contended lor. 
According to that principle the church had the 
exclusive right to elect the pastor by a separate and 
distinct vote, and the right and duty of the congre- 
gation was to confirm that vote. They had no 
power to make a new choice by a separate and 



15 

independent vote. This last article in the mani- 
festo sweeping away, as it did, what was regarded 
as the special right and prerogative of the church, 
or the body of communicants, was particularly 
offensive. The Salem ministers, Higginson and 
Noyes, who replied to the manifesto, condemn it 
" as having a direct tendency to subvert the minis- 
try and grace and order and liberty of all the 
churches in the land,'' and think it " may make 
worse work than they care to say." Fortunately 
their fears were not realized. 

These four points, — i. Reading of the Scriptures 
in public worship; 2. Baptism at the liberty of the 
pastor ; 3. Admission to the church without the 
public relation of experience ; 4. The extinction 
of all special right on the part of the church, and 
the recognition of the right of every individual 
member of the congregation who contributed to its 
support to vote in its affairs, — these constitute the 
most essential and important principles which our 
Fathers put forth and established in the erection of 
this church. I have dwelt upon them at this length 
because I felt that, to those of us who knew, it would 
be a pleasure to recall them; and I wished that all 
who did not know should be made acquainted with 
the noble origin and honorable early history of this 
church, — the truly Christian spirit, and principle, 
and purpose of our Fathers who instituted it. They 



i6 



were not reckless and conceited disorganizers; 
they were not come-outers and radicals, according 
to the modern use of these terms. The}^ were men 
of solid and substantial Christian faith. They be- 
lieved in the Bible, and they determined that in the 
church which they erected and sustained the Bible 
should be read publicly from the pulpit, as the 
source and the authority of the truths and instruc- 
tions which the pulpit uttered. They believed in 
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, anointed 
of the Father to be the teacher and Saviour of the 
world; and the}^ determined that in their church, 
instituted in his name, his Gospel should be so ad- 
ministered that He and not the church should be 
the sole Master and Lord of conscience. The}- 
were men of faith, holiness, and pra3'er, who saw 
that a new church was needed in the growing 
town, and determined to establish one that should 
be liberal yet conservative, uniting freedom and 
order, the libert}^ of the individual with the rights 
and progress of the whole body. The points in 
which they departed from the usages of the Con- 
gregational churches of their day were in one 
aspect mere matters of form and administration, 
but they involved questions of individual right and 
privilege. And we have reason to hold our found- 
ers and Fathers in grateful honor and reverence, 
that they stood last in the libert}' wherewith Christ 



17 

has made us free; and we are not to be surprised, 
we cannot be surprised, that a church originating 
in this spirit, founded upon and adhering to these 
principles should soon have become large and flour- 
ishing; or that continuing faithful to them it has 
been throughout its history a prosperous and peace- 
ful church. 

Brethren, I do not propose to dwell thus minutely 
upon any further details; nor is it necessary, for 
the later history of this church, and the ministries 
of Thacher, Buckminster, Everett, and Palfrey are 
well known and familiar to many who hear me. 
But I must refer to some of the particulars con- 
nected with the first two pastors. The first move- 
ment in relation to this religious society was made 
in 1697. In January, 1698, the undertakers became 
possessed of a lot of land in Brattle Close, but for 
some reason which cannot be ascertained they took 
no steps toward erecting a house of worship until 
the spring of 1699. In a letter dated the loth of 
May of that year, addressed to Mr. Coleman, in 
England, inviting him to become their pastor, they 
say: "The timber for our church has already been 
brought to town; the frame will be raised the first 
of August, and the house completed in October." 
A simple wooden structure, that was thus to be 
built in the course of three or four months, could 
not, manifestly, have been a very elaborate structure. 
3 



i8 



But in that humble temple, Dr. Coleman, for nearly 
forty-eight years, preached and labored with a 
wisdom, a fidelity, and success that have seldom 
been surpassed. He was a native of this town, 
and his brother was one of the " undertakers " of 
this church. He graduated at Harvard College in 
1692; and, after delivering the master's oration, 
travelled, studied and preached in England about 
four years; and at the moment this invitation 
from Boston reached him he was preaching to a 
distinguished dissenting congregation in Bath. 
Having determined to accept it, and anticipating 
from the state of things here that there might be 
difficulty in obtaining ordination in Boston, he pro- 
ceeded to London, and there on the 4th of August, 
1699, he was ordained as the pastor of this church 
by some of the most distinguished dissenting clergy- 
men of that city. He arrived here on the ist of 
November, 1699, and in a very few weeks he and 
the people of his church were quietly worshipping 
God according to their consciences in their new 
and simple church. In a very few years the rela- 
tions of Dr. Coleman and his society with the 
other ministers and churches in the town became 
pleasant and harmonious, and the distinctions and 
the title, " manifesto," which first marked and sepa- 
rated the church in Brattle Square, were obliterated 
by the adoption by most of the Congregational 



19 

churches of New England of the principles, cus- 
toms, and usages which that church had introduced. 
It was a blessed providence that led to the choice 
of Dr. Coleman to be the first minister of this 
church. Among the men of his day there was no 
one who had so large a measure of the requisite 
combination of qualities for the difficult post. Had 
he and his people resembled many pastors and 
societies of the present day, — who seem to be zeal- 
ous for all manner of useless and unnecessary 
innovations, and anxious to hold out the idea that 
there is something very peculiar in their society, 
their modes and methods of administering the Gos- 
pel, — they might have made at that early day a fatal 
schism in the Congregational churches of the col- 
ony. But he was for peace and conciliation. He 
was anxious, so far as it could be done without a 
compromise of dignity and principle, to keep his 
church in union and harmony, not in contrast and 
conflict, with the other churches in town. By wis- 
dom, firmness, and gentleness he succeeded to the 
content of his heart; and in 1747, when he died, 
it would be difficult to name one who, as an ac- 
complished scholar, a courteous Christian gentle- 
man, a wise, faithful, earnest, eloquent preacher, 
a devoted and attentive pastor, an honest, patriotic, 
public-spirited citizen, had rendered more impor- 
tant service to the community, or was held in higher 



regard by all the churches in Massachusetts, than 
Benjamin Coleman, the first pastor of Brattle- 
Square Church. 

He had two colleagues, — the Rev. AVilliam 
Cooper, who was ordained on the 23d of May, 1716, 
and, after twenty-seven years of associated labor, 
died on the 14th of December, 1743, leaving Dr. 
Coleman, in his advanced age, the sole pastor of 
the church, — a charge from which he was presently 
relieved by the choice of a son of William Cooper, 
the Rev. Samuel Cooper, to be associate pastor. He 
was ordained on the 22d of May, 1746, just sixteen 
months before the death of Dr. Coleman, after 
which, for thirty-seven years, till his own death, in 
December, 1783, he was the sole pastor of the 
church. These two pastorates of Coleman and 
Cooper cover nearly one-half the period that has 
elapsed since the organization of the church. Dr. 
Cooper is better known to us by tradition than Dr. 
Coleman. He was an accomplished gentleman and 
scholar, dignified and imposing in personal presence, 
an eloquent preacher, and faithful pastor, and also a 
man of affairs, — taking a deep interest in, and in 
various wa3^s exercising a large influence upon all 
the public questions and events of that stormy 
period between 1750 and 1783, when he died. 

From his pastorate Brattle-Square Church be- 
comes a distinct and tangible reality to us of this 



21 



generation; for then was erected this splendid 
temple of worship, which, in its substantial struct- 
ure, in the grand and imposing solemnity of its 
interior, has not been equalled, certainly not sur- 
passed, by any church that the Protestant faith has 
since erected in the city of the Pilgrims. It was 
formerly thought, and has been sometimes pretty 
strongly asserted, that, after the great awakening of 
1740, a period of coldness and deadness came upon 
the New-England churches, which was increased 
and prolonged, made deeper and darker through the 
political troubles of the times, — the French war 
and the war of the Revolution, — and that during 
the last half of the last century there was very little 
manifestation of a living, vigorous religious faith in 
these churches. We are beginning to correct this 
idea, and do a little more justice to that period. 
We ought to correct our estimate; for surely the 
people who resisted the Stamp Act and the Boston 
Port bill, and held the principles that inaugurated 
the revolution of 1776, and who carried their coun- 
try triumphantly through that great struggle, could 
not have been an irreligious people, nor largely 
wanting in that religious faith which is truly the 
inspiration of the noblest and most honorable action 
in all our political and public affairs. 

But, whatever may have been the general spir- 
itual state, we may rightfully claim that this church 



22 

of our Fathers, in 1770, was in good condition 
spiritually and materially. They must have been 
and felt themselves strong materially; for, when 
they were about to build this church, they refused 
the offered o:ift of a most elio-ible lot of land of far 
greater value than this which they held, — a lot 
worth thousands then, worth hundreds on hundreds 
of thousands to-day, — and refused partly because 
they did not want to leave the old spot, and partly 
because the majority of the parish lived immediate- 
ly north of the church, and Brattle Close was very 
accessible to them. They purchased more land 
here, and then raised, by voluntary subscription 
among themselves, twenty thousand pounds lawful 
money, — equivalent, I suppose, to more than 
$150,000 at the present day, — and erected this 
grand and substantial church, which, untouched by 
hand of man, would defy for centuries the inroads 
of time. We need no better evidence, brethren, 
of the faith of our Fathers; that a good spirit was 
in them, and an efficient ministry at work among 
them. This church could not have been built 
without faith, or without that generous devotion to 
the honor of God and the good of man which faith 
inspires. And in comparison with similar work in 
our times, it was very speedily built. The society 
worshipped for the last time in the old wooden 
church on this spot, the loth of May, 1772. The 



23 

corner-stone of this church was laid on the 23d 
June, 1772. The church itself was finished, dedi- 
cated and worshipped in by our Fathers on the 
25th of July, 1773, — ninety-eight years ago last 
Wednesday, and about thirteen months from the 
time its corner-stone was laid. Is there a con- 
tractor or master mechanic among us to-day who 
would undertake to build this church, with its thick 
massive walls and all the noble carved work of its 
interior, in the time in which the mechanics and 
workmen of Boston erected it nearly one hundred 
years ago? 

But the society was not permitted long to enjoy 
it unmolested. As we know, the troubles of the 
Revolution came on; and Dr. Cooper, whose patri- 
otic sermons, services, and character made him 
obnoxious to the royal authorities, left the town in 
April, 1775, and did not return until after the siege. 
The services were suspended when the siege com- 
menced ; the military commandant wanted the 
church for military purposes, and made it a bar- 
rack. The patriot enemy fired upon it from without, 
and struck it; the British soldiers within marred 
and defaced it with their bayonets, and left it in 
such a condition that several weeks elapsed after 
the evacuation by the British forces before it could 
be used for the purposes for which it was erected, 
— the public worship of God. But these circum- 



24 

stances caused it, before it was a decade old, to 
become an historic church, around which patriotic 
memories and associations soon gathered, and have 
since been increasing, strengthening, and over- 
flowing with every generation; so that now it is 
a matter of regret, not simply to the worshippers 
in this church, but to the great body of our citizens 
generally, that this noble and glorious old edifice, 
this splendid landmark of the past, should pass 
away. 

That regret is natural and right. 1 should feel 
little respect for any man who did not share in 
it. No one can feel it more sadly or deeply than 
myself. My ministry covers more than one-third 
of the time since this church was erected. I have 
preached from this pulpit nearly twenty years 
longer than any of my predecessors; and, however 
little it may be, nearly all that there is of honor or 
usefulness in my professional life is associated with 
this spot. If ever I have felt an hour of triumphant 
satisfaction, — perhaps it was a weakness to indulge 
in it, — at the thought of work well done, duty faith- 
fully discharged, it has been when, standing here, 
looking into the faces of parishioners and friends, 
I have led their devotions, set forth the teachings, 
hopes, promises of the Gospel, and uttered, as best 
I could, the truths that pertain to their own welfare 
and to the highest interests of humanit}'. For 



^5 

more than thirty years these majestic columns have 
flanked me on either side, like grand and solemn 
sentinels, keeping silent watch and ward over this 
pulpit which, with its sacred memories, traditions, 
and associations, has been my inspiration and my 
throne. The thought of leaving all this glory, of 
departing from it and seeing it depart, makes my 
heart throb; nay, makes every fibre of my frame 
quiver with deep and sad emotions. 

So is it with you, brethren, members of this 
society, worshippers in Brattle-Square Church. I 
can understand and sympathize with all the feelings 
that arise in your hearts this da}' at the thought of 
leaving this home of your religious afl:ections, this 
scene, perhaps, of your deepest religious experience, 
connected so intimately with all the joy and all the 
sorrow of your lives. Sad and sacred, holy and 
hallowed memories gather around it in your minds; 
nay, with some of you, who are even now near the 
close of life, the recollections of early childhood 
cluster thick and fast about it this morning. In 
unconscious infancy you were baptized at this 
altar. Hither the hand of parental affection early 
led your childhood's steps to the worship of God; 
and through all the years of life the path has 
been familiar to your feet, and even now is sweet 
and pleasant through the memory of the parents, 
brothers, sisters, who once trod it with you, but 



26 



long since, it may be, have passed from your sight, 
and left you to tread it alone. 

But where recollection goes not back to early 
childhood, it goes back, with many of you, to the 
dawn of early manhood, when stepping upon the 
stage of life you rested here the ark of your faith, 
made this the tabernacle of 3-our worship, sought 
here the truths that were to guide and the influ- 
ences that were to protect you amid all the duty 
and peril of life. And through all that duty and 
peril, through prosperous and adverse fortunes, 
your hearts weary with the heav}^ burden of sor- 
row, or glad with gratitude and praise, hither you 
have come, Sunday after Sunday, year after year, 
and found strength and comfort, the Master's peace 
and a spiritual benediction on your soul. And 
now, to-day, to you who are here present, as to 
many who are not present, to many scattered all 
over the land, ay, and in foreign lands, the thought 
of this church comes up to the memory like a golden 
thread of light and love and comfort, of hope and 
strength, woven into the very texture of your hearts, 
an inseparable portion of the warp and woof of 
your being; and to cut that thread, to drift away 
from this spot, so familiar, sacred, dear to all that 
is noblest and best in your souls, and see all this 
material glor}' and beauty depart, — this begets in 
your hearts a sadness that may be almost called 
a bitterness of spirit. 



27 

Yes, friends, it is natural, it is right, that we 
should feel deep sorrow and regret at leaving this 
noble old church; but we should not indulge this 
feeling until it becomes morbid and deaf to all the 
suggestions of wisdom and sound judgment. We 
should not indulge it until it paralyze effort and 
make us forget what we owe to the future in 
return for what we have received from the past. 
Change is the order of Divine Providence; nothing 
is permanent or enduring upon earth but truth and 
dut}^, and these var}^ in the efforts and sacrifices 
they demand of us, with the varying circumstances 
in which we are placed. Reduced to the last 
analysis, the question which has been for some 
years before us was simply a question of conscience 
and of duty rather than of feeling. '^ Shall this old 
church and society in Brattle Square remain on the 
spot where it was born, and die there; or shall it 
remove to another site, and, carrying with it its tra- 
ditions and its history, seek to perpetuate itself as 
a religious organization, and go down into the 
coming generations a living power and not a lifeless 
memory that must soon become utterly and for ever 
extinct?" That this was the question, the simple 
alternative, can, I think, neither be doubted nor 
denied. You have felt it, and I have felt it. The 
history and experience of similar institutions in ;ill 
large and growing cities in this country and in 



28 



Europe confirm it by unequivocal testimony. 
There are grand traditions and histories connected 
with this church, and it is an imposing, impressive 
old building; but it is so unpleasantly situated, the 
access to it from every direction has for the last 
twenty years been so disagreeable, and will so un- 
questionabl}^ become more and more unpleasant, 
that the mightiest voice that ever uttered itself 
in a Christian pulpit, — and such voice is not 
easily obtained, nor does it live for ever if ob- 
tained, — could not, I apprehend, keep this church 
alive on this spot for a quarter of a century lon- 
ger. It was not meet that we should abide here 
for the gratification of our personal feelings of 
attachment and reverence for this spot and this 
house, and leave the religious organization trans- 
mitted to us from the Fathers, the living church of 
living and immortal souls, to perish and die out. 
To preserve and perpetuate the religious organiza- 
tion, and send it down into the community and the 
generations to come after us, — this was the more 
sacred, imperative and Christian duty, to be dis- 
charged at whatever sacrifice of our personal feel- 
ings and affections, at whatever cost to our personal 
comfort. 

And we have not been hasty in this matter, my 
friends. Some may think that we have delayed too 
long, but assuredly we have not been hasty. It is 



29 

now full twenty-five years since the first distinct 
proposition for a change of location was made to 
the society by several gentlemen, all but one of 
whom have since died. Those gentlemen held at 
that time the refusal of the estate where the Music 
Hall now stands, and the question of removal, with 
that estate in prospect, was brought to a distinct 
vote in the society, and decided in the negative by 
a very large majority. In the providence of God 
the time had not come. But during the twenty-five 
years since elapsed, the question has been a constant 
subject of thought and discussion in the parish, and, 
once or twice, of some pretty direct practical efforts 
on the part of the standing committee, and four or 
five years have passed since the measures that are 
now issuing in our removal were instituted. They 
have been pressed gently and gradually on the 
parish. We have not been hasty; we have moved 
slowly, because we wished that every thing should 
be done, as every thing in the past history of the 
church has been done, in peace and harmon}^, in as 
near an approach to unanimity as possible. Time 
has been allowed for a full interchange of opinions, 
for wisdom and judgment to temper the natural im- 
pulses of feeling, of aflection, and attachment; until 
now I believe there is all but a universal concur- 
rence among the worshippers in this church and 
among our citizens generally, who feel that they 



30 

have, as it were, some right of property in this old 
landmark of the past, — there is everywhere an 
almost universal concurrence in the proposition 
that Brattle-Square Church and Society must re- 
move, if they would live. 

The hard necessity of the first part of this alter- 
native is forced upon us in the providence of God 
by the growth and prosperity of the city. The 
fulfilment of the last part of it — perpetuating our 
life — depends, under the providence of God, upon 
ourselves. That is a question to be determined 
by the fidelity of our own hearts to duty and prin- 
ciple. The necessity of removal being admitted, 
the removal itself determined upon, just in propor- 
tion to the measure of our attachment to this spot 
and to this church, with all its history and tradi- 
tions, should be the energy of our efforts to transfer 
it, with this history and these traditions, — the real 
church, the living spiritual church, — to the new 
spot, and there build it up. And why should we 
not do this? Are our religious feelings and asso- 
ciations so much more local and confined than those 
of every other part of our nature, that we cannot 
meet the changes that require us to transfer them 
to new scenes? Is our worship such a formal affair, 
so dependent upon the influence of outward and 
accustomed surroundings, that we cannot compre- 
licnd and feel, act upon and obey, that grand dec- 



31 

laration of the Master, " Thou shalt worship the 
Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh 
such to worship him"? No, brethren: that spiritual 
worship of the heart we can carry everywhere; 
and it is in our power, by forbearance, by tender- 
ness, by an earnest, concurrent zeal, to carry out 
— nay, we shall carry out to a glorious and noble 
conclusion — the goodly enterprise upon which we 
have now entered. We shall " enlarge the place 
of our tent;" we "shall stretch forth the curtains 
of our new habitation, and great will be the peace 
of our children." 

Every thing is favorable for us if our own hearts 
are full of courage and hope, of forbearance and 
faith. Through the kindness of one of the oldest 
and most honored churches in this city, in offering 
for our use their chapel in Freeman Place, Beacon 
Street, comfortable provisions have been made for 
our worship until our new church shall be ready for 
our reception. Let us gratefully go there, and cleave 
together and cling together in work and love. I pre- 
sume not to dictate; I interfere not witli the liberty 
which any family or individual may choose to exer- 
cise upon this subject: no one will accuse me of 
any professional arrogance of that sort; but in the 
name of the blessed Master, whose truth we have 
sought together to uphold here; in the name of 
those great and precious interests which for more 



32 

than thirt}' years I have stood here to defend and 
advance as best I could; by all the blessed memo- 
ries and associations of the past, — I do entreat you, 
even those w^ho have least favored the enterprise 
now begun, and say to you, let us cleave together 
and cling together and work together with loving 
hearts, with living faith, with earnest efforts ; and 
then those efforts shall be crowned with success, 
and the glory of the latter house shall exceed the 
former, and the blessing of God will rest upon us 
and upon our children even as it did upon our 
Fathers. 

Nothing remains for us now, brethren, but to take 
leave of this dear, blessed, familiar spot. Farewell, 
then, for ever, thou grand, glorious, blessed old 
church ! An earnest faith and a devout piety laid 
thy foundations, reared thy walls, planted thy 
columns, adorned thy pulpit, and made thee a grave 
and goodly house of worship. Earnest, learned, 
faithful and eloquent men, preachers and pastors, 
have stood in thy pulpit, and made thy walls re- 
sound with utterances of sacred and divine truth, 
with appeals to the heart and the conscience that 
could not be resisted. Successive generations of 
wise, good, devout, patriotic. Christian men and 
women of high or low, humble or exalted station, 
have filled thy pews and drunk from thy fountain of 
livino- waters the influences that have been the com- 



fort and joy of their hearts, that have made them 
useful and happy upon earth and meet for heaven. 
Through all thy worshippers, in successive genera- 
tions, thou hast connected thyself directly v^ith 
much that is patriotic, useful, noble, honorable and 
of good report in this community. But thy mission 
is done, thy work is accomplished, thy office ful- 
filled. The mandate to depart is issued, and we 
leave thee now for ever. But we will not forget 
thee. Thine image, holy and beautiful, of mingled 
grandeur, grace, and dignity, shall abide for ever in 
our hearts, a blessed memory, a quickening inspi- 
ration. Often we will recall thee; and when our 
hearts have ceased to beat upon earth, and no one 
of the living generations can say, " I remember 
thee," even then thy fame shall survive: and in the 
great communion of the saints, multitudes worship- 
ping in temples not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens, shall there look back, and remember thee 
with gratitude and reverence, as the spot where 
their hearts were born to Christ, and their souls 
made meet for glory and honor and immortality. 
Farewell for ever, noble, glorious, blessed old 
church in Brattle Square! 



APPENDIX. 



'T^HE removal of an old historic landmark, like 
Brattle-Square Church, was an event of too much 
general interest and importance for the public press of 
the city to permit it to pass unnoticed. The whole of 
the foregoing Sermon, reported with singular correct- 
ness, appeared in several newspapers on the Monday 
morning after its delivery, with glowing and elaborate 
descriptions of the scene and service at the church in 
some of them, and with kind and friendly comment in 
all. One or two interesting and noteworthy articles 
also, on "the Manifesto Church," and its contemplated 
removal, were published on the Saturday previous, 
July 29. As these articles are expressions or indications 
of the public opinion and feeling of the time, and thus, 
while interesting to all, are especially interesting to the 
members of Brattle-Square Society, and may be needed 
or desired in some convenient form for historical refer- 
ence, the Standing Committee have thought it best to 
reprint some of them in connection with the Society's 
issue of the Sermon itself. 

The following is from the " Daily Advertiser " of 
Saturday, July 29: — 



36 

The Church in Bratti.e Sqtjare, — Appropriate re- 
ligious sei-vices at the church in Brattle Square will mark 
to-morrow one more of the changes which remove the memo- 
rials of old Boston. Such changes show us how different is 
the city of to-day from the little town to which our Fathers 
gave a reputation honorable the world over. It is nearly two 
hundred years since the first church was built on the spot 
which is now surrendered, after a loyal struggle, to the in- 
vasion of commerce. The history of the church then estab- 
lished has been honorable, and it has been closely connected 
with the fortunes of the town and the changing phases of the 
religious life of New England. We suppose, indeed, that the 
foundation of this church is, in our local history, the mark 
which indicates the advance in culture and individual right 
which in three generations the children of New England had 
made upon their ancestors. At the end of the seventeenth 
century the colony was no longer poor, and Boston was no 
longer a little fishing-town struggling for a right to be. The 
people who lived in it were no longer new settlers in a wilder- 
ness. They had had no home but New England, and they wanted 
none better. In every regard, therefore, their circumstances 
differed from those of the first Winthrop, the first Dudley, and 
their associates ; and, however sad the confession to the men 
who loved to praise the olden time, it was natural that the 
difference between the first generation and the third should 
express itself in the forms of their worship. 

Mr. Haven has pointed out the curious fact that the second 
generation was undoubtedly of less culture, literary and relig- 
ious, than that whose place it took. The infant college could not 
train such scholars as did Emmanuel and Pembroke and the 
other tried colleges of the old Cambridge. And the struggles 
of a wilderness were not the best schools for such culture. 
But, as prosperity increased, as wealth increased, here in the 
metropolis especially, small though the metropolis was, cul- 
ture asserted its own again. The elegancies of life came in 
with the other prizes of commerce; and it is evident that tlie 
literary, scientific, and religious tastes and studies of the genera- 



37 

tion that grew up as the century came to an end were no longer 
those of an insignificant fishing-town. 

It is as evident that the closely-serried power of the early 
Puritan church could not hold its own in a community where 
that church no longer dreaded the arm of persecution. Blaxton 
had said, as early as 1638, that he found the Lord's brethren 
masters as hard as any lord bishop. It was not in the nature 
of New England to bear indefinitely any close screws, whether 
imposed by a congregational or a prelatical star-chamber. And 
it was therefore inevitable that so soon as the church of the 
colonies was sure of freedom from persecution, it would, as its 
elastic constitution permitted so readily, assert its freedom from 
theological dictation. 

Each tendency of advance — whether in literary and theo- 
logical culture, whether in freedom of expression, or whether 
in liberty of thought — was in a quiet way exemplified in the 
establishment of the church in Brattle Square. The " Mani- 
festo Church," it was called in its day, — being indeed the 
" Protestant" church among the Puritan congregations. It did 
not separate from their fellowship ; but it instituted novelties in 
worship which at the time were considered extraordinary, and 
which were sufficient to denote the real independency of the 
congregation. To the observer of to-day, looking back upon 
these changes, they appear singularly small. That the Bible 
should always be read in the conduct of divine service was one 
of them. The true Puritan carried his dread of book-worship 
so far, that this was a novelty. That the Loi-d's prayer should 
be used in every service was one of the early customs, which 
became traditional in this church. The older Puritans had 
dreaded such an approach to a form. Most remarkable of all 
was the permission given to each person who wished to join in 
the communion of the church, to make to the pastor his own 
statement of religious experience in private, — and the waiver 
of the old custom of a public proclamation of such experience. 
In this last concession is to be found the recognition and conse- 
cration by the " Manifesto Church" of the right of private judg- 
ment. These changes in ritual seem to us very small. They 



38 

indicate, however, the determination on the part of the most 
intelHgent and influential of the laity of the town of Boston, as 
it then was, to keep in their own hands the direction of the 
methods of public worship, — their determination to have it 
conducted in such way as to meet best their own wishes and 
necessities, — and their refusal to submit in such matters to the 
notions of the coteries of the clergy. The establishment of the 
" Manifesto Church " may be said to show that Boston was no 
longer governed by a hierarchy, if indeed it had ever been. 

It is needless to say that the church founded on such a prin- 
ciple has always furnished distinguished illustrations of its 
value. The church in Brattle Square united, through the 
century which followed its formation, a large number of those 
citizens of this town who were most closely connected with the 
administration of public affairs. To this time the " convention 
of the clergy," which is the Massachusetts " convocation," holds 
its annual religious service in this church. In the sei^vices of 
the Colmans, of the Coopers, and of Thacher in its pulpit, 
it maintained the claim which the manifesto made for the fit 
illustration of sacred learning by the best studies of modern 
literature and science, and for the true consecration of the 
thought of the time by the lessons of sacred learning. The 
names of Buckminster and Everett, and of their successors still 
living, are enough to show that in this century it has not been 
false to the same mission. 

This church stood for individual liberty in contrast to the 
pressure of a congregation, and for modern culture in the 
place of traditional ritual or theology. There was therefore, 
of course, no question where it would be found, when the 
religious discussions of the earlier part of this century divided 
the Congregational communion of Massachusetts. It would be 
hard, perhaps, to name four men associated together who have 
done more service to the liberal communion of Congregation- 
alists than have the four men who successively filled the pulpit 
of this church since that discussion began. For eloquence, for 
scholarship, for critical knowledge of Scripture, the names of 
Buckminster, Everett, and Palfrey have been pre-eminent in the 



39 

Unitarian communion. And that body, in the organization of 
its missions and the supervision of its associated action, has had 
no officer who has served it vi^ith more distinction or ability 
than the present pastor in the years when he was president of 
its missionary association. 

The church, which stood once at the southern end of the 
fashionable quarter of the town, has long since been far north 
of the homes of its worshippers. To-morrow they meet for the 
last time beneath the roof consecrated by so many memories. 
The building — erected by a pupil of Wren's, in an architect- 
ure not unworthy of the school from which it sprung — is to be 
destroyed. The congregation will carry to their new home 
some memorials of the old. The cannon-ball which struck 
the tower when the "rebels" of 1775 fired on the town will 
be placed in the new tower. The new church, like the old, is 
to 

" Bear on her bosom, as a bride might do, 
The iron breast-pin that the rebels threw." 

The stately mahogany pulpit, of the best work of the London 
taste of a century ago, will be removed also. The bell, long the 
heaviest in Boston, will call together the worshippers. And 
we trust that the corner-stone, from which the English soldiery 
hacked the hated name of John Hancock, may be the head- 
stone of the new corner. 

Will it not be possible, as a new square of buildings grow 
up around the newly built church, to give to it Brattle's name? 
— that, in the emigration from north to south, the "Manifesto 
Church " may still stand in Brattle Square. 

The " Daily Evening Transcript " of Saturday called 
attention to the services to be held the next day, in the 
following sympathetic and commendatory notice : — 

"The Manifesto Church" — such as it was originally 
called, for protesting -against some Puritan usages, and intro- 
ducing marked innovations in the direction of freedom — will 



40 

hold its last services to-morrow in the old Brattle Street (we 
say old, for there has been an intimation that the new site may 
retain the ancient name). The day can hardly fail to be one 
of deeply interesting historical reminiscences and memorials 
covering a century and three quarters. The story of this con- 
secrated building, so imposing and solid in its architecture, and 
its more humble pi'edecessor, has been so frequently told that 
it is a familiar chapter in the annals of Boston and New Eng- 
land. But those annals will fail to record the unwritten, and 
many of them unspoken, solemn, and tender memories and 
associations connected with the ancient tabernacles. These 
have been known only to individual experiences. The sacred 
uses to which the noble building has been put through scores 
of years, the long line of eminent and eloquent preachers that 
have discoursed of Christian truth and hope beneath its roof, 
have given it a name and a fame unrivalled by any other church 
in the land, and hence the significance of the farewell. 

Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, D.D., has already been the 
devoted, respected, and beloved pastor of the Brattle-Street 
Society for thirty-seven years. And as he takes leave of the 
pulpit from which he has so long spoken, hosts of friends will 
desire for him, in the health and strength of his veteran powers, 
many added seasons of the faithfulness to his immediate charge 
and the unwearied practical regard for the best interests of 
Boston he has so constantly and signally manifested. 

In its issue of Monda}^ in addition to the report of the 
Sermon in its columns, the "Transcript" had another 
pleasant notice of the occasion and the services at the 
church : — 

Brattle-Street Church. — The services of yesterday, 
the last Sunday of public worship in that consecrated edifice, 
are quite fully reported on the first page. No printed account, 
however, will give their impressive significance, as that was 
felt by the great congregation present. Several causes com- 
bined to make it an event of unusual interest. Associations. 



41 

connected with grave questions of religious and civil liberty, 
have made the name of the structure historic ; whilst as a 
Christian tabernacle, in its succession of pastors and genera- 
tions of parishioners, its story, written and unwritten, is 
crowded with the profoundest experience of the human lot and 
the human life ; as these have invoked the truths, the hopes, 
and the aspirations of that faith which seeks to reconcile this lot 
and life with the spirit's immortal progress. 

No wonder then that, notwithstanding the unpropitious 
season of the year, the gathering filled every pew and almost 
packed the aisles. No wonder the sons and daughters of the 
church — their church, or the church of their fathers — came, 
as many did, from far and near, to join in exercises of a solemn 
leave-taking. Thus a natural public interest in an hour over- 
flowing with suggestion was largely supplemented by the 
strictly personal feelings of individuals and home-circles. 

As was fitting, Rev. Dr. Lothrop w^as assisted by some of 
his younger brethren who had gone from beneath its roof to 
become dispensers of the Christian truth to which they had 
there fii"st listened. His own discourse, connected with ser- 
vices imposing for their severe simplicity, and what may be 
called, for that reason, their traditional appropriateness, was in 
all respects suitable and effective. With brief passages of lucid 
explanation, and condensed references to the annals of the past, 
the preacher resisted the temptation to explore anew the rich 
field those annals presented, and kept himself and his audience 
to the religious sentiments wdiich the parting hour awoke and 
for which it demanded expression. 

His manly words were eloquent and tender, abounding in 
reverence for the former days, meeting the obligations of the 
present, looking hopefully forward to the future ; thus setting 
forth in just relations the changes that must need be with the 
reminiscences clinging to them, the lessons taught and the re- 
sponsibilities imposed as the centuries flow irresistibly onward. 
To the fine apostrophe, so condensed, and yet so warm with 
subdued emotion, which closed the discourse, not a syllable can 
be added. The audience present accepted it, and those who 
6 



42 

read it will do the same, as just the farewell that was to be 
uttered to interpret the occasion. 

The "Christian Register," in its number for Aug. 5, 
has an article, — "Old Landmarks Removed," — refer- 
ring to and suggested by the farewell service at Brattle 
Street : — 

The Old Landmarks going. — The services at Brattle 
Square last Sunday, a report of which, together with Dr. 
LoTHROP's Sermon, occupies so large a space in our columns, 
remind us forcibly of the changes which ai-e taking place in 
Boston. For the last few years nearly all of the older churches 
have been on a stampede after their worshippers. The trade 
of the city having driven the old Bostonians out of their family 
mansions, and left the churches surrounded with stores, the 
next step of necessity has been the moving of the churches, so 
that soon the Old South will be the only reminder, in the heart 
of the city, of the church edifices of a former generation. 
The Federal-Street, the New South, the First Church,' the Bap- 
tist Church on Chauncy Street, Rev. Dr. Adams's on Essex 
Street, the Catholic Church on Franklin Street, the Winter- 
Street, — all have taken up their line of march to the newer 
parts of the city. The Universalist Church in School Street, 
the Second Church in Bedford, Trinity in Summer, and the 
old church in Brattle Square, will soon give way for stately 
stores, and the places where they stood for generations will 
know them no more. 

But these changes mark the transitions of church polity and 
religious opinions as distinctly as the increase of the city in 
trade and the moving of the people. The sermon of Dr. 
LoTHROP illustrates this. "The Manifesto," when written, 
contained statements of principles, and recommendations of 
changes, which were regarded as somewhat startling innova- 
tions. Now both the practices and principles there set forth 
have become established in our churches. 

Brattle Square is, moreover, specially dear to the Bostonians 
from the many old and dear memories with which it is asso- 



43 

ciated. It has had a ministry of eminent scholarship and pul- 
pit gifts. There were Colman, Cooper, and Thacher of a 
former generation. It was here that Buckminster, '• the 
seraph of the pulpit," thrilled the hearts of his hearers by an 
eloquence as novel as it was fervent and glowing. It was 
here that Everett began that career as a public speaker, which, 
in another sphere, has given a grace and charm to American 
oratory. It was here that Palfrey, with careful scholarship 
and conscientious fidelity, entered upon pulpit labors, which 
afterwards ripened into the professor and historian. Its pres- 
ent minister has had a long and faithful pastorate, and is widely 
known for his pulpit eloquence, and the various public services 
which he has performed with so great acceptance and ability. 

Then, too, the edifice itself is rich in associations. It is 
connected with the struggles and the memories of the Revolu- 
tion. It bears the handiwork of one who has, by his genius 
in church designs, left an imperishable name. But though 
thus rich in sacred association, this church must yield to the 
changes of time. The Boston of a former generation, with its 
cluster of churches, has become a great centre of trade. The 
old citizens, one by one, have been forced to give up their 
homes and churches for stores. This is one of the consequen- 
ces of the increase of Boston. But the city has only entered 
upon her new enlargement. She is pushing out in every quar- 
ter. The future is rich with the promise of added wealth, 
population, and trade. Will Boston, as she tluis is favored 
with material prosperity, maintain the higher interests of cul- 
ture and religion? Will this city be the abode of scholars and 
artists who will throw the light of their influence and genius 
over literature and social life? Will our ministers, uniting 
reverence and love of freedom, resist the present temptation 
to superficial brilliancy, and by earnest and profound study- 
work to advance the progress of Christian truth, and strive to 
build up churches which shall be both sentinels and lights to 
watch the public morals and brighten the pathway of prog- 
ress? In the future we hope to see Boston maintain that 
foremost position in culture, education, and religion for which 
she has heretofore been distinguished. 



44 

The "Boston Post," of Monday, July 31, had a very 
full description of the whole scene and service at the 
church; and its reporter, adhering to facts, but holding 
a rhetorical pen, gave such play to feeling and imagina- 
tion as to present a very vivid picture. From his 
description we make the following extracts: — 

The Services Yesterday. — Yesterday morning services 
were held in the time-honored edifice for the last time. The 
weather was cloudy and threatening, but not sufficiently so to 
deter those who would come from coming ; . . . and a most 
unusual, but under the circumstances perfectly natural, interest 
was manifested in the event. It was no common one that of 
taking leave of such a place as Bi'attle-Street Church. There 
were many moist eyes to be seen amongst the congregation. 
There were many old niches looked into for a parting thought. 
There was a historic fict to many attaching to every window 
and every pillar, and the pulpit and the organ spoke volumes. 
. . . There, in 1775, had stood a stack of arms. By that win- 
dow an officer had hacked at the queer old carvings, and the 
marks of his sabre are to be seen there still. There, by the 
pulpit, had been grouped the flags of Great Britain. Around, 
everywhere, had been scattered the cots of the soldiery. One 
could trace the precise spot back of where the cannon-ball 
had struck, and imagine what consternation reigned in the 
baiTack when from the line of the American fortifications the 
shot was fast dropping into the Squai^e, and the dismal 
portents of a driving rain-storm filled the air. Thoughts 
such as these recurred to one sitting in the church while 
the congregation was coming in, and there was plenty of time 
to reflect. 

At half-past ten o'clock the organist, Mr. I. I. Harwood, 
seated himself before the sacred instrument and played an 
appropriate pi-elude. . . . By this time the church was crowd- 
ed to overflowing. The pews, the galleries, the aisles, the 
doorways, were filled completely. There was no room for 



45 

more, and it all went to prove that the traditions of the old 
edifice are not yet quite forgotten, and that they will not soon 
be. From the galleries, to one looking down into the body of 
the church, the scene was deeply impressive. The sturdy 
array of pillars on either side, the antique mouldings, the pews 
panelled in green, the brocatelle curtains on the brass rods 
around the galleries, the curiously shaped windov/s and the 
wide sills, the heavy green blinds through which the daylight 
found its way in a subdued form and fell upon the upturned 
faces and touched them all and every thing with a hallowed 
tint, and the worn and faded furnishings were such as to fill a 
stranger with thoughts akin to sadness in remembrance of the 
occasion. In the pulpit sat Dr. Lothrop, ... by his side the 
Rev. E. E. Hale. On the table in front were a few flowers, 
and at each end of the large Bible was a bouquet of beautiful 
exotics. . . . 

After some further description of the scene and the 
services, and a full report of the Sermon, the "Post" 
closes with the following reference to — 

The Music. — The musical portion of the exercises calls 
for more than a mere passing mention. The selections were 
all in the best taste possible, and were performed with remark- 
ably fine effect. The organ, though nearly one hundred years 
old, has lost none of that purity and rotundity of tone for 
which it has long been famous, and yesterday it seemed to be 
conscious of the peculiar solemnity of the day, so grand and 
beautiful were the effects educed from it. It will be of interest 
to state, in passing, that it is jDrobable that a large part of the 
old organ will be recast and incorporated in the new one. 
Beside the organist, the choir consisted of Mrs. 1. 1. Harwood, 
soprano ; Mrs. J. Rametti, alto ; Mr. D. W. Loring, tenor ; 
and Mr. C. E. Pickett, bass; and this quartette was assisted 
in the chorus passages by Mrs. Tower, soprano, and Mr. Gar- 
rett, bass, both former members of the choir. Mr. and Mrs. 
Harwood came to the city from York, Maine, where they were 



46 

passing a summer vacation, for the express purpose of being 
present at, and attending to the music of, these farewell ser- 
vices. The selections consisted of an opening quartette from 
T. Sterndale Bennett's oratorio, " The Woman of Samaria ; " 
"God is a Spirit," sung without the organ; a Gloria, "Now 
unto the King Eternal," following the reading of the Scrip- 
tures ; the hymn, " While Thee I seek. Protecting Power," 
sung to the celebrated and beautiful tune, " Brattle Street," by 
Pleyel ; a Chant, " O Sing unto the Lord," by James Turle ; 
and the concluding Doxology, " From all that dwell below 
the skies," sung to Old Hundred. The voices of the singers 
blended perfectly, and the execution of the various tunes and 
anthems was highly artistic and desei-ving of unstinted praise. 
Mr. Harwood handled the organ with appreciative and excep- 
tional skill, Mrs. Harwood's voice is a clear, high and ringing 
soprano, equally good in each of the registers, while Mrs. 
Rametti possesses a conti'alto of remarkable sweetness. Mr. 
Loring's tenor and Mr. Pickett's bass are also conspicuously 
excellent, and the whole choir may rightfully congratulate 
itself upon having achieved a genuine musical triumph, despite 
the very unfavorable condition of the weather. 

It will be long before the last services in the old church in 
Brattle Square will be forgotten. 

The "Post's" reference to the music, and criticism of 
it, are altogether appropriate and just, and, as an inter- 
esting addition and close to it, we publish what to some 
is a well-known and unquestionably authentic tradition 
in Brattle-Square Church, in regard to the hymn, 
"While Thee I seek. Protecting Power," and the tune, 
" Brattle Street," to which it is almost invariably sung. 
When Rev. Mr. Buckminster returned from Europe in 
1807, he brought with him a manuscript copy of this 
liymn, presented to him by its celebrated author, Helen 
Maria Williams. It is probable that this was the first 
copy of this hymn that had reached America. It had 



47 

certainly never been adopted or used in public worship. 
Very soon after his return, Mr. Buckminster, whose 
knowledge of music was as thorough as his love of it 
was ardent, in conjunction, says tradition, with Hon. 
Nahum Mitchell and Bartholomew Brown, Esq., altered 
a piece of Pleyel's instrumental music, adapting it to the 
hymn, and the two were sung for the first time in this 
country at Brattle-Street Church, in the autumn of 1807. 
Wedded together then and there, the union has been so 
universally recognized and approved for nearly seventy 
years, that any attempt at divorce is immediately con- 
demned. Few congregations would be pleased at hear- 
ing that hymn sung to any but this tune, which was at 
first called " Hymn Second," and once pubhshed under 
the name of "Bengal," but was soon, — as early as 181 1, 
— in honor of Mr. Buckminster and the church where it 
was first sung, called " Brattle Street," and is now uni- 
versally known and designated by that name. 



THE NEW 



BRATTLE-SQUARE CHURCH. 

HatJing t!)e Corner ^tonc. 



nr^HE corner-stone of the new Brattle-Square Church, 
corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Clarendon 
Street, was laid on Thursday, September 14, with simple 
but appropriate and interesting services, which opened 
with the reading of some passages of Scripture and 
prayer by the Rev. Dr. Lothrop. Mr. John Gard- 
ner, chairman of the Building Committee, then read 
the following 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 

It is a jDleasure to meet on this occasion to lay the corner- 
stone of the new Brattle-Square Church, and place within it 
some historical records of the church and society, whose origin 
dates back to 1699, one hundred and seventy-three years ago. 

It is not necessary for me to name the eminent, learned, and 
pious men who have so successfully preached from its pulpit. 
History bears evidence to the great and good work done by 
each in his day and generation. Perhaps, also, no Christian 
society in the land has counted among its members from time 
to time so great a number of eminent statesmen, whose influ- 
ence throughout the whole country did so much to mould pub- 
lic opinion, and establish the republican government under 
whicli we now live. 



49 

Governor Hancock and Governor Bowdoin w^ere both woi*- 
shippers at Bi-attle Square, were liberal contributors towards 
its support, and large donors towards the erection in 1772 of 
the edifice that has just been sold. At later periods, the Presi- 
dents, John Adams and John Qiiincy Adams ; the celebrated 
lawyers, Samuel Dexter, Harrison Gray Otis, Daniel Webster, 
Chief Justice Parker, Judge Peter Oxembridge Thacher, and 
James T. Austin ; Drs. John and J. C. Warren, the brothers 
Sullivan, Gen. Dearborn, Alexander Everett, Benjamin 
Crowninshield ; also many liberal, distinguished and influ- 
ential merchants, Thomas Russell, Theodore Lyman, Hen- 
derson Inches, William, Amos, and Abbott Lawrence, as well 
as many others that might be mentioned, were at some time 
proprietors and worshippers at Brattle-Square Church. 

The idea was expressed by Dr. Palfrey, in his sermon 
preached at the installation of our much-respected pastor, 
" You must bear in mind that what you preach from this desk 
will be heard by those whose positions in the councils of the 
nation will take the sentiments uttered here and disseminate 
them throughout the wide domain of the country." 

Some five years since it became apparent that the location 
of the church in Brattle Square, surrounded as it was by the 
encroaching demands of trade and commerce, was no longer 
adapted to the wants or convenience of the society, and that 
some new location nearer the homes of its members, and more 
agreeable of access, must be sought and obtained. At that 
time the lot we now stand on was purchased by some membei^s 
of the pai-ish with the purpose of offering it at the low price 
paid for it to the society, whenever it should vote to remove. 
No better spot, we think, could then or since have been secured. 
Its prominence from every point of view, its central position 
on this broad avenue, its proximity to the increasing population 
in this southern and western part of the city, and its short dis- 
tance from Beacon Hill, commend the site as a good selection. 
It will soon be surrounded by the residences of a population 
of nearly one hundred thousand. 

The committee appointed by the society, when fully author- 
7 



50 

ized to sell the church and property in Brattle Square and 
erect a suitable church on some more commodious spot, decided 
at once to accept this lot from the parishioners, who had pur- 
chased and were ready to transfer it by deed to the society. 

The church property in Brattle Street is sold. Contracts 
were made some months since for the erection of this structui-e, 
which is being built in the Norman-Lombardic style of archi- 
tecture, and of materials such as you see before you, — Rox- 
bury stone, and brown sand-stone. Unlike any other church 
in the city, it will have an imposing tower of about one hun- 
dred and ninety feet in height. The cost of the whoie land 
and structure will not be far from the resources we shall have 
at command. And when we have put this stone with its con- 
tents in its place, on that solid foundation under the ponderous 
tower to be erected, may it rest there for centuries to come, 
undisturbed by earthquakes, i-evolutions, or contending armies. 
May this temple stand unscathed, save by the hand of time, 
and from its altar may there go forth all good influences and 
religious instructions, teaching love to one another, adora- 
tion of God, and love for our Redeemer, till time shall be 
no more. 

At the close of his remarks, Mr. Gardner enumerated 
the contents of the sealed box, which were as follows : — 

The Daily Advertiser, of July 31, 1871, containing the sermon by Rev. 
Dr. Lothrop, the minister of the church, on the 30th of July, being 
the last service held in the church in Brattle Square. 

A history of the church and society, written by Rev. S. K. Lothrop, 
published in 1851. 

Charter granted by the legislature in 1822, with a hst of the ministers 
of the cliurch from 1698, with the by-laws of the cliurch. 

Charter granted by the legislature in 1871. 

Copies of the following papers : Daily Advertiser, dated September 
14, 1871 ; Boston Morning Post and Weekly, September 14, 1871 ; 
Boston yournal, September 14, 1871 ; Boston Evening Transcript, 
September 13 and 14, 1871, and Weekly; Boston Evetiing Travel- 
ler, September 14 ; Boston Christian Register, September 9 ; New 
York Liberal Christian, September 9. 



Photographs of the pastor and several others. 

Copper cent of 1803 ; copper cent of 1715 ; silver six-cent piece, of 

Philip V. of Spain, 1737. These coins were found on the premises 

of the old church. 

The box was then set with cement in the proposed 
cavity by Dr. Lothrop, assisted by the chairman of the 
Building Cominiltee and the contracting mason, Mr. 
Augustus Lothrop ; and the corner-stone was lowered 
into its place. The anthem, " God is a Spirit," was then 
sung ; after which. Dr. Lothrop delivered the following 
address : — 

My Christian Friends, and especially Members and Repre- 
sentatives OF the Society recently worshipping in Brattle 
Square, — 

The chairman of the Building Committee, Mr. 
Gardner, at the opening of this service stated to you 
its purpose. That purpose has now been substan- 
tially accomplished. He, in conjunction with his as- 
sociates on the committee, and m3'self as pastor (in the 
regretted absence of our deacon, Mr. P. T. Homer, to 
whom this service was assigned), have just laid the 
corner-stone of our new church, depositing within and 
beneath it a box (whose contents have been stated), to 
remain there unseen by mortal eyes, until in the provi- 
dence of God and the progress of time this church, too, 
shall have fulfilled its mission, and receive its mandate to 
depart. The occasion has a meaning and significance, 
lessons of duty and of hope. It awakens memories, 
enforces obligations, is an expression of feelings, prin- 
ciples, purposes, which are swelling in all our hearts, 
but which it is not necessary I should undertake here 
and now fully to set forth. Let me simply say that, as 
a religious society, we gather here to-day as pilgrims 
and strangers, without house or home, seeking to lay the 



52 

foundations, to build here the walls of a new habitation, 
a new religious home, for ourselves, our families, and 
the generations who may come after us. Even as our 
Fathers, of glorious and blessed memory — the Pilgrims 
of 1620, '30, and '34 — at the sacrifice of many sacred 
associations and tender affections, in the spirit of a devout 
faith, at the call of conscience and duty, tore themselves 
away, turned their backs upon the dear old churches, the 
sacred spots and happy homes of England, and came 
over to this land, to build here new churches and new 
homes, and to worship and serve God under broader and 
fairer opportunides, — so we have given our hearts a ter- 
rible wrench, our memories and affections a painful 
shock ; we have abandoned, torn ourselves away from 
a noble old church, — grand, solemn, imposing in itself, 
but so surrounded, pressed upon, buried, as it were, 
beneath the gathering accumulations of the world in its 
growing business and enterprise, as to have lost those 
properties of convenience and invitation which should 
mark a church, — we have torn ourselves away from this, 
— at wliat pain, none but those of us who have done it 
can estimate, — and come down here to this new and 
more open spot, that we may build here a new house of 
worship, establish here a new religious home, enshrine 
in it all the memories of the past, embark and intrust to 
it all the hopes of the future, and, in it and through it, 
give to our religious organization, and to the freedom and 
simplicity of that Congregational faith and worship it aims 
to uphold, a fairer and broader opportunity to grow and 
expand, to exert more and more its beneficent influence as 
a permanent and pervading power in this community. 

My friends, I rejoice, — but knowing most of you, your 
Christian sentiments and spirit, so well as I do, I may use 
the plural number, and say we, — we all rejoice in the 
religious liberty enjoyed in our country, where each and 



53 

all are free to worship God according to the dictates of 
their consciences. We rejoice in every token of a living 
faith and earnest zeal displayed by any of the denomina- 
tions of Christian men and women that compose our 
community. We rejoice in every indication, no matter 
by whom made, that God is recognized and worshipped, 
Christ received, reverenced, obeyed, and his Gospel 
made the inspiration and law of life to the soul. And, as 
we stand here to-day, in this southern and western part 
of our growing city, and look around upon its increasing 
number of new churches, — upon those whose spires, 
pointing towards heaven, show that they are already 
completed, and upon those whose foundations are just 
begun, — as we look around upon them all, from the 
majestic and massive Cathedral of the Roman Catholic 
to the church whose corner-stone was laid yesterday, we 
bid them all God speed. May they all be fountains of 
living waters to them that drink thereat. May they all 
redound to the glory of God, the honor of Christ, and 
the good of man. May they all stand for the defence 
and furtherance of Christian light and love, holiness and 
truth, for the regeneration of the world and the salva- 
tion of souls. We would come among them, not in the 
spirit of opposition, or a narrow, sectarian bigotry, but in 
the spirit of Christian respect and sympathy, to strive by 
competing in love and zeal to promote the highest and 
best interests, the coming of the kingdom of God in 
this community. But, while we thus embrace all with 
a broad catholic charity, and desire to live in peace with 
all, we cleave closest, we love deepest, we respect most 
profoundly, we give faith, heart, conscience, and our 
best service to that simple, free, independent Congrega- 
tion ahsm which we have received from our Fathers ; 
vvhich, as a form of Gospel administration, was the 
pristine glory of New England ; to which she owes so 



54 

much that is honorable in her history and noble in her 
character ; to which the ancestors of so many of us were 
mart}' rs and servants in England and in this country ; 
and which, as we read and interpret the New Testament, 
corresponds, in organization, form, and service, more 
nearly than any other to those primitive Christian churches, 
which Paul and the apostles planted around the shores 
of the eastern Mediterranean, in the first century of the 
Christian era. We are sad when any one of these old 
Congregational churches dies out, becomes extinct. 
We rejoice when any one of them is spiritually renovated, 
imbued with fresh life, placed (as we are endeavoring 
to place ours) in a position to prolong its existence, and 
increase its power, and become more and more a living 
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is therefore, 
brethren, and ought to be, in gladness and gratitude 
that we meet here to-day, and, with prayer and supplica- 
tion, lay the corner-stone of our new church. From 
this hour let sacred associations and interests begin to 
gather in our hearts around this spot, leading us to for- 
get the things that are behind and press forward to those 
that are before, — forget them so far as their memory 
would be a clog to our zeal, a hindrance to our efforts, a 
palsy upon our energ}^ ; remember them only to make 
them an inspiration to faith, hope, courage, to every 
thing demanded of us to carry forward to completion the 
goodly Christian work we have undertaken, and have 
here and now asked God to bless. Let us so remember 
the past and so embrace the future that both may quicken 
and invigorate our fidelit}-. 

Brethren, the independent Congregational Church — 
the "manifesto" church of 1699 which has come down 
to us by inheritance and descent, and which we here 
represent, — in its history, character, principles is worthy 
of our regard and our devoted service. It combines 



55 

and harmonizes, to as great an extent as is practicable, 
the principles of authority and freedom ; maintaining, as 
a body or religious society, its own independence of all 
external authority by its subjection to the Master in his 
great revelation, and securing the freedom of every 
individual member of the body in the interpretation of 
that revelation. The great declaradon of its covenant is, 
"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker 
of heaven and earth ; and in Jesus Christ as the prom- 
ised Messiah and Saviour of the world ; and receive the 
holy Scriptures as a revelation of the mind and will of 
God to men for their salvation." The great demand 
— the simple, grand, comprehensive demand — which 
it makes upon every one who would join in its service at 
the table of Communion is one that recognizes liberty 
and supposes progress. "Will you endeavor to yield 
obedience to every truth of God that has been or shall 
be made known to you as yoicr duty, the Lord assisdng 
you by his Spirit and grace?" It is because we believe 
these declarations and principles to be the spiritual corner- 
stones of the spiritual Church of Christ, that we seek to 
transplant them from the original spot where our Fathers 
embodied them in temple and w^orship to this new spot, 
that here they may take fresh root, spring up strong and 
fruitful, and in the future, as in the past, nourish the 
spiritual life of many generations. Let us prosecute this 
work, so happily begun, with a zeal and fidelity worthy 
of its character and importance ; and may God continue 
to bless it with the smiles of his favor. May this church 
go steadily forward to completion without delay or acci- 
dent, or loss of life or limb to any engaged in erecting it. 
When it stands finished throughout from its firm founda- 
tions to the capstones of its lofty tower, may the blessed 
Providence permit us to gather here with devout and grate- 
ful hearts, and, in the spirit of a hol}^ faith, consecrate it 



56 . -^ 



to the worship of the one God, the Father Almighty ; to 
the honor and service of his only begotten Son, the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And, so long as its walls shall stand, and 
men and women gather in it for worship, in Christian 
faith and trust, may the Father and the Son make it the 
scene and the channel through which to shed down, in 
rich abundance, those influences of the Holy Spirit which 
are for the consolation, the enlightenment and redemp- 
tion of the world; and may we, brethren, when we come 
to worship within these walls, and may all who come 
after us, see to it that, through these influences of the 
Holy Spirit and our own efforts and prayers, the spiritual 
temple of a holy Christian character — more glorious 
and beautiful than any outward temple, — be built up in 
our hearts. 



